


Juno Steel and the Carte Blanche Blues

by TheSpookyVarietyHour



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Multi, getting some more writing out there as we go, it's drabble time ladies and gents and y'all lurkin in vents, so not all of it is hidden in my novel project uwu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpookyVarietyHour/pseuds/TheSpookyVarietyHour
Summary: Ah. Good evening, traveller, and welcome to The Penumbra. Our next stop… the Carte Blanche.The junction lies just ahead, traveller. Do not be alarmed… we are taking a rather unorthodox route today. This will not be one of Juno Steel’s usual adventures.The adventure you are about to witness is a dive into the hypothetical. Often times those most legendary among us need some time to wind down, and those who have many grand tales to tell will often miss the lovely little stories to be found in between.Sometimes, traveller, a good story is as simple as a single human moment.Our next stop… Juno Steel and the Carte Blanche Blues.Ah, and Traveller? Please, enjoy your stay.
Relationships: Buddy Aurinko/Vespa Ilkay, Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	1. Wit & Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vespa witnesses the battle of the century.

“Vespa, have you seen Rita?”  
Juno tilted his head to the side.  
“Vespa?” He tried again. He was no stranger to her ignoring him, of course, but this was something else. She was so intently focused on something or other that it was almost like she just didn’t hear him at all. It was then he decided to make the most dangerous move of his entire career; he waved his hand in front of her eyes.  
She finally snapped free of this reverie, looking up at Juno with an angry sneer. “What?!”  
“What the hell are you looking at?”  
Vespa turned her very annoyed gaze back, and Juno followed; there he saw Peter and Jet sitting opposite each other at a table, heads down, intently focused on a board between them.  
“They’ve been like that for hours, Steel.” Vespa explained, “Just… sitting. Staring.”  
“How long have they been sitting there?”  
Vespa shrugged. “When was the Olympus compromise?”  
Juno frowned. “Like… a hundred years ago?”  
“They’ve been there twelve hours.”  
Juno choked, pausing then to examine the scene for a moment. Jet Sikuliaq was a man of cold, hard logic. Facts were far and away his most valuable asset, his mind an absolute powerhouse. Peter Ransom, on the other hand, was a snake. He would try and trick Jet into beating himself, or find one singular opening to overwhelmingly exploit until there was nothing left for Jet to use to recover. The air between them was so intense you could throw some coal onto the table and end up with enough diamond to satisfy the Carte Blanche bills for a lazy sunday afternoon. Truely, the most intense game of chess the Milky Way would ever see.

Juno pulled up a chair, falling into it beside Vespa and offering his hand to her. “Twenty creds on Ransom.”  
With a snort, she clapped his hand to shake it. “Done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Please consider buying me a ko-fi!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/hazelspinsayarn


	2. The Rita Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buddy needs a drink, and finds something much more bizarre along the way.
> 
> (Spoilers up to 3.17-3.18 The Heart of it All)

Buddy huffed a sigh as she placed the empty bottle down upon the table. She called out, “Jet? Jet, dear?”  
No response came. “Vespa?” She tried, but again, to no avail. Frowning softly, Buddy rose to her feet, stepping out of her office and into the nearby kitchen. She had been feeling peckish for some time (in the sense that her engine was beginning to spin down and now required refuelling), and finally had a moment away from planning her next great piece of work (read also: highly illegal and dangerous heist) to solve this slightly annoying problem.  
What she found in the kitchen, however, was not any one of her crew, but every one of them. All of the ship’s alcohol was apparently stacked in front of Juno and Vespa, who were obviously inebriated beyond recognition, and across from them at the next pair of tables was Jet and Peter, staring frozen at the chessboard between them.  
Observing this affair was Rita, who was sitting on a fold-out directors chair Buddy could have sworn she’d never seen before. She’d dragged her terminal and some cameras out into the dining room and begun filming; one camera on Juno and Vespa, one on Jet and Peter.  
“Rita, what is going on in here?” Buddy butted in.  
“Oh, oh!” Rita shot up from her chair, knocking it over. “It’s… _THE RITA SHOW!”_ She boldly announced, which only caused Buddy to frown as she looked at the stream again.  
“Rita…” She began, “Does not appear to be in the Rita Show.”  
“Well it’s not _about_ me!” Rita explained, “I’m just the gorgeous and charismatic host!”  
“Okay…” Buddy offered, “What is the show about?”  
“Well, you see, Mista Jet and Mista Ransom have been locked in their game all day! Miss Vespa and Mista Steel started takin’ bets on who would win but then that turned into a drinkin’ game about whose turn it even was! Now every time one of them goes to make a move, if it’s Jet then Mista Steel drinks, and if it’s Ransom then-”  
“Okay, yes, I understand, thank you dear.” Buddy then spoke up, “Alright, everybody, we need to be getting ready for the next job.”  
Peter and Jet, predictably, did not make any indication they had heard. Juno made some completely incomprehensible cry in protest, and Vespa did her absolute darned best to stand but found her legs simply did not agree with her anymore. Rita was the only one left to respond, and in doing so, she handed Buddy a nearby tablet.  
“Here you go!” She declared, “Donations comin’ in from the viewers!”  
Buddy took the tablet and gave it a cursory look- then her jaw might as well have hit the floor. This time from shock and not from the radiation damage. "Oh, well, with money like this we needn't bother with the next job! Do carry on, dears!"  
Rita clapped her hands and bounced in raw excitement in her chair. “That’s the _RITA SHOW_ doin’ good work!”

Jet leaned back in his chair, and Juno groaned loudly, taking another shot, while Vespa snickered evilly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Please consider buying me a ko-fi!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/hazelspinsayarn


	3. Quiet Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Juno and Peter enjoy something nice between them.

“This… is nice, Juno.” Peter hummed, swirling a lovely red around the wide glass in his thin fingers. “I do wish we could do this more often.”  
“Yeah, it’s…” Juno tried, “It’s nice.”  
It was just the pair of them in the dining room this evening. A three-pronged candelabra illuminated them both; Ransom in a perfectly tailored three piece suit (somehow perfectly smooth and un-wrinkled despite the well known state of his room) and Juno in whatever half decent button-up and pants he had to hand. In place of a tie, Ransom was wearing a small collection of necklaces of various lengths, layered over each other, each one the reward from some no doubt incredibly brave, dangerous, and daring heist. The thought of it made Juno’s cheeks burn and his heart beat just a little bit faster.  
“Well,” Ransom said, setting his class down. His plate, too, was immaculately cleaned. Juno wondered just how his room couldn’t keep up. “What else do you have planned for this evening?”  
“Well…” Juno sighed. “We don’t have a whole lot of options here on the ship. We could cook up some popcorn, enjoy a stream? Or…”  
“Or,” Ransom cut in. He leaned forward, eyes peeking up over the slim red shades he wore despite being in a dark room. The corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk that cut right through to Juno’s core. “Perhaps we could simply… retire to your room? Enjoy the rest of the night… together.”  
Juno attempted a response, but suddenly found himself breathless. “I… yeah… We could… we could do that…”  
Before the pair could so much as move, they were suddenly flooded by light from the kitchen; there stood Vespa, wearing nothing but a pair of bright green silk boxers, eating from a box of cereal by hand.   
“Do you mind?” Juno grumbled. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”  
“Nah.” Vespa said. “I’m good.”   
“Are you just gonna… stand there?”  
“Yep.” There was a crunch as she bit down on another handful of cereal flakes.  
Buddy emerged from the doorway behind her, draped in a gorgeous silk night-gown, hair draping down in a series of perfect curls.  
“Captain, if you would,” Ransom tried to appeal, “We were hoping for but a moment of privacy.”  
“We’re a family, darling, you must accept a certain loss of private intimacy.” Buddy shrugged the plea off. “Oh, thank you, dear.” She added, reaching into Vespa’s cereal box for a helping of her own.  
Juno grumbled, as Peter grinned. “Perhaps a stream for the family would be lovely after all, dear Juno.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my work? Please consider buying me a ko-fi!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/hazelspinsayarn


End file.
